


Stormy Night

by paupotter_4869



Series: The Most Important Thing. . . [8]
Category: The Last of Us (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, Father-Daughter Relationship, Jacksonville, Late Night Conversations, Marshmallows, One Shot, Summer storm, builders, domestic life, soft, stormy night
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 17:41:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27990165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paupotter_4869/pseuds/paupotter_4869
Summary: When a severe summer storm hits Jackson in the middle of the night, Joel is summoned to fix the fence and stables before they collapse. Upon returning home, he finds Ellie awake at a very unreasonable hour and they talk for a bit. Also, hints at Dina/Ellie relationship.
Relationships: Ellie & Joel (The Last of Us), Joel (The Last of Us)/Original Female Character(s), Maria/Tommy (The Last of Us)
Series: The Most Important Thing. . . [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2033674
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	Stormy Night

**Author's Note:**

> All credit to Naughty Dogs. I do not own anything.

Lightning stroke, illuminating the sky above for some seconds before darkness returned, and then a deafening thunder blew with such power that the whole Earth seemed to reverberate and shake for some seconds. 

“Shit! That one fell close,” Jeremy scowls, raising his head to look above the fence. There were look-outs on the guard posts and they hadn’t warned of any trees struck by lightning or any fires erupting too close to the village, but no one was too sure of anything, today. 

“We’ll be fine, just keep going,” ordered Tommy, trying to hold a flashlight steady at Joel’s position. After all, the sooner they finished, the sooner they could leave this place without getting struck by lightning.

Joel, too focused on his work to spare a look at the weather, kept hammering. The rain poured on top of them, soaking them all to their bones, sweat and rain making his shirt and trousers stick to his skin. He tried wiping his forehead not to miss his shot, but it was futile, and Joel worked on trusting his instincts and by pure memory alone. 

It had started raining in the morning, a soft drizzle back then, nothing too bad that would put a stop to the routine around the community—they were used to droughts, storms, and snowfall around the year, after all. As the day progressed, the intensity of the storm had gotten worse and worse and by midday, everyone was ordered to return to town. Soon after, the reparations around Jackson had begun, fixing leaks, making damps to stop floods, strengthening rooftops. 

Right now, it seemed the worse of the storm was exactly on top of them. Few people had managed to fall asleep with the continued pouring rain out there and, unfortunately, their work was not yet done. The weight of the accumulated water destroyed part of the stables, which put all the horses in frenzied states. 

Fearing a stampede could threaten any unfortunate passerby’s life, or the greenhouses, or the fences, Tommy and Maria woke Joel and the rest of the builders up. And there they were now, almost two dozen people out of bed at such unreasonable hour under such unreasonable weather conditions. They were split into three groups: Joel and the builders trying to fix the roof, the people on patrol duty trying to calm the stressed-out horses down, and the other volunteers, holding out flashlights so everyone would see where they were going or what they were doing. 

Up in his ladder, Joel demanded another wood panel and he got one immediately. Brandon, by his side, helped him hold the panel and place it correctly—it would be the last one they would need on this side of the rooftop. Brandon, younger and less heavy than Joel, climbed up the roof and they both started hammering the nails down again, trusting the well-known movements of their hands rather than their poor eyesight. 

“We’re done here!” some of the builders announced by the other end. 

“Just a minute!” Joel begged, his voice strained with the effort. 

As people descended to the stables to rest and cover from the storm, others gathered around Joel’s and Brandon’s position, shedding more light. At long last, they hammered the last nail down and could call their work concluded, too. 

They came down and waited down there under the rain for some seconds, afraid the storm would destroy their temporary fix. When they were certain they’d done a fairly good job given the circumstances, at least until they could work on it come morning in broad daylight, Joel and Brandon smiled and shook hands, tired and relieved expressions. 

“Here,” said Alicia, taking Joel’s hammer and spare nails so he could actually get some rest. 

“Thank you,” he appreciated. 

“Perhaps go inside and dry off a little bit?” the woman suggested then. 

Joel knew it would be futile to dry off just to get soaked again on his way back home, but he turned around and entered the stables, with other ideas in mind. Behind his back, everyone started thanking and congratulating everyone’s work and selflessness, but he moved on to the stalls, dripping water at every step. 

He needed a second to adjust to being in a dry environment instead of the pouring rain. The light, also, was too bright for his eyes after working for so long in the semidarkness. He grabbed one of the canteens of water lying around and took a big sip. 

“Thanks for the help, Joel,” appreciated Kyle, down the stables, tapping his hat at him once. 

Some of the members of patrol duties—Jesse, Kyle, Dina, Melissa, Abigail—were still there, trying to soothe the horses after the fright, walking each horse to its stall. 

Joel nodded in response, without sparing any other word. He stopped in front of Pilgrim’s stall, the horse he used to take on his patrols. He raised a hand to caress Pilgrim’s crest, hoping his cold hands won’t scare him even more. He was a little bit shaken, just like his friends, although it’s nothing too worrisome. 

“Yeah, you’ll be alright,” he whispered, a small smile on his lips. 

At that moment, Melissa and Dina had gathered whatever hay was available and were splitting it all up amongst the horses. He moved, eyeing the little pool of water in front of Pilgrim’s stall where he had stood for less than a minute. With any luck, the storm would ease off soon enough; and with having the food’s reward for their excellent behavior out here, the horses would, without a doubt, survive tonight’s storm. 

Dina stayed behind, probably waiting for him to leave so she could switch off the lights and join everyone else. He looked at her across the stables with what he hoped would be warm eyes. 

“Would you like some coffee at my place?” 

She knew exactly what he was asking and she smiled softly, looking anywhere but Joel. He understood the rejection before she spoke the words. 

“I think I’ll go home. Thanks.” 

At that, Joel left the stables, without insisting or trying to guilt-trap Dina in any way. He wasn’t going to force anyone’s arms around here—except, maybe, Ellie’s. She was making things very hard, shooting down any and all efforts Joel had made so far to convince her to integrate into the community. 

“Hey, Joel,” Tommy called him out, “you sleeping here?” 

“Coming,” he said, biting back a snarky remark. 

He met his brother and then followed him out into the rain again, where the townsfolk awaited so they could return back together. They kept looking up at the vigilance towers and over the fences, with varying degrees of worry and concern. It was only natural: the sentinels on duty could hardly see beyond their noses through the rain, and there was no way to hear any clickers over the storm and the thunder. These were possibly the worst conditions imaginable to keep Jackson safe. Not to mention no patrols had gone out at midday or at night because of the weather, so they were none the wiser if any Infected had approached the village throughout the afternoon. 

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much they could do at the moment—except waiting and praying no threats lurked in the darkness of the storm. In the morning, if the rain had subsided, they would send the patrols out again, and the community would breathe much better after getting their reports. For now, the best course of action was to get some sleep. 

They walked off, heads dropped against the rain. Tommy and Maria called to a stop in front of the canteen, offering towels, coffees, warm plates of soup, and alcoholic drinks. Some people accepted eagerly and walked in, others refused, arguing they were too tired, and walked off, their silhouettes trimmed against the rain disappearing quickly into the darkness. Joel also decided to head back home, confessing he was beat, as well, and waited there until Tommy and Maria, the last ones of the entourage, were safe and sound under the canteen’s porch. 

“Goodnight, Joel,” Alicia bid farewell. 

“Night,” he answered, walking into the night. 

Joel needed no flashlights or signs to see where he was headed, even in the heavy storm. It’d taken him a total of two days to know his way around Jackson. He walked confidently, passed three buildings north, fourth more buildings east, and he reached home—sighing at that word. He felt confused, shocked, and belatedly happy every time he thought of Jackson and that house he shared with Ellie as ‘home’. 

Lincoln was only a place he lived in, with few acquaintances, where he could, from time to time, get some restless sleep before his next mission. Home had lost any meaning whatsoever a long time ago, at least the more conservative of definitions. Jackson was home. It was a safe haven on Earth, where they could make friends they could trust and rely on, where they could rest, maybe pick up some hobbies, and possibly owning possessions not merely restricted to survival. It was home the likes of which Joel had not enjoyed since the Apocalypse, just like so many other neighbors and friends. 

The fact that the lights were on didn’t surprise Joel at all. Ellie had woken up when Tommy had pounded on the door to drag Joel’s ass to the stables—the surprise would have come if Ellie _had_ gone to sleep on her own volition, actually. 

Exhausted and heavy steps, Joel walked in, dripping wet, and saw Ellie on the couch. She didn’t seem tired at all, what with the loud thunderstorm going on. She had a pile of those comic books of hers by her side, re-reading those for the umpteenth time in a row. Joel really needed to find some new material for her before she started reciting the stories word by word from memory. 

She put down her book when Joel came in. “All done?” 

“Yup,” nodded Joel. 

“So Jackson will live to see another day?” Ellie mocked. 

“With any luck. . .” the man sighed, and then he leaned, running a hand through his hair, so drops of water flew everywhere, included Ellie—cold enough that she screamed for her life, pulling on the blanket to cover herself. 

“No, stop!” she begged, although it was hard to tell if she was really complaining, given the broad smile on her face. 

Surrendering without a fight, Joel waved at Ellie to make him some space on the couch and he dropped dead. It had been an exhausting day for him. Although there was something to be said about the fact that his exhaustion didn’t stem from a long day on a mission, looking out for Infected and the military and human groups, probably smuggling something illegal—he was exhausted from spending the whole day helping out where he could around the community. He couldn’t remember people coming together this way back in the day, except for when a natural disaster happened. In Jackson, there was this sense of belonging and a need to help the community that hadn’t existed in so damn long. 

Of course, it would have been nice if Ellie could make an effort to fit in, too. 

“You should change,” she pointed out then, without looking up from her comic book. 

Avoiding an argument so late at night, Joel stood and went upstairs to put on some dry clothes before he could catch a cold. When he came back downstairs, Ellie wasn’t in the living room anymore. However, a sweet, mouth-watering smell raised from the kitchen. He sat down on the couch and grabbed the comic Ellie had been reading. 

He was flicking through the pages when Ellie came back with two steaming mugs, handing Joel one over the couch. 

“Hot cocoa,” she said. 

“What, no marshmallows?” he asked, letting the smell fill his nostrils. 

“I don’t really know what those are,” Ellie confessed, claiming her spot on the couch and her comic book back. 

Joel swallowed back a grunt as he took the first sip of the drink. Day in and day out, he kept finding out more things Ellie had completely missed out on during her childhood, things that he’d like to show and give her if the chance arose. The mental list kept growing and growing, to his biggest dismay. 

“Never mind. Listen, I saw Jesse and Dina back there.” 

At that, Ellie scoffed, although Joel knew she was only _pretending_ to read, now. 

“Tommy introducing you to the few youngsters in Jackson wasn’t so you could avoid them altogether, kiddo,” Joel argued. “Why won’t you even make an effort? They’re nice people.” 

“And why do you insist on me meeting people?” Ellie retorted. “I have you.” 

“I’m hardly what anyone would call nice company. Also, I’d rather you had friends your age, Ellie.” 

“Don’t need them.” 

Joel sighed deeply, watching with a crease between his eyes how nonchalant Ellie was—or rather, pretended to be. It had been almost a month already and she only got out of the house to eat at the canteen and to fulfill the duties Tommy had assigned her that week, trying to avoid all contact whatsoever with any of the townsfolk. 

Maybe she was still pissed off at him for what happened at the hospital… Perhaps she needed some more time to move on from the excruciating events they’d been through the past year. Joel could understand that and give her all the time she needed. He would just feel much comfortable if she got out of the house, talked to people other than him, or Tommy, tried to make some friends around here.

He could only guess if the real reason behind her reluctance was fear—fear to make friends, to care for other people, to love, at risk of losing them all over again. There’s only so much a young heart can handle, and she’d suffered through most than the majority of the teenagers who lived around town. 

“Time to sleep,” he ordered. As Maria suggested, he could, for the time being, give Ellie the space and privacy she so desperately craved for. 

He took Ellie’s comic book to get his point across—knowing no force on Earth will be able to wake her at a reasonable hour in the morning. Ellie scowled at him and finished her cocoa, slurring loudly on purpose, before she laid the mug on the coffee table and went upstairs. Joe waited for some minutes, giving her plenty of time to get into bed without giving the impression he was checking up on her. 

He did do so, however. Old habits are hard to quit. Back in Texas, back with Sarah, whenever he went to sleep, didn’t matter how late it was, he always stopped by her room. That’s how he learned some of her little tics: her restlessness whenever she had bad dreams, the crease between her eyes when she was worried over exams, or the mumbling she did under her breath after they’d had some of her guitar lessons that day. 

It was easy, almost natural, to pick that habit now, again. He saw Ellie on her bed, hiding her right arm under the sheets. She looked uncomfortable and Joel picked up a blanket, throwing it over her shoulders, and she seemed to relax. She appeared so tiny, crumbled in a little ball on a corner, the majority of her bed unused. The fact that she slept with her back to the door did tell Joel that she _was_ doing a little bit better. When they were on the road, Ellie would never sleep calmly with her back facing the way any threats could come in. 

Perhaps Jackson was working its magic and allowed Ellie to switch off the hyper-vigilant mode she’d been in for years before settling down here. Joel wouldn’t delude himself into thinking that it was _his_ presence the thing that helped her sleep so profoundly at night, although he had promised himself he’d never let any harm come to her, anymore.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed it !


End file.
